Keeping Appointments
by Syreene
Summary: Martha and the Doctor celebrate her passing her medical exams, and she shares with the Doctor why she became a doctor in the first place.  10Martha  Sequel to Being A Doctor.
1. Doctor Jones, I presume?

The Doctor flipped Martha's cell phone closed with a smile as he leaned against the doors of the TARDIS and opened them to the bright afternoon sun of Earth.

"Ah, England!" he said with a smile as he took a deep breath and turned back to the police box. "See, old girl?" he said with a loving pat on the door, "I told Martha that you were entirely capable of getting the coordinates right when you wanted to."

He turned to look at the tree lined path leading up to the medical building where Martha was taking her exams. "Right…now we've just got to get her back so you can show her yourself."

"Besides…" he muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck and started walking down the path, "I think I'm feeling a bit under the weather and could use a check-up…"

* * *

Martha blew her hair out of her eyes in frustration as she got out of her car and looked at the medical building. "Right…nothing to be afraid of…you've faced down Judoon, Daleks, and the Master himself…you can face up to a piece of paper with your score on it." She gripped the strap to her purse tightly and walked purposely down the path to the medical building.

As she pushed open the glass doors to the foyer of the building she saw the large message board on the wall in front of her with the list of scores posted on it…almost daring her to come closer and face her fate. "It's just a piece of paper…it's just a piece of paper…" she muttered her mantra to herself as she closed her eyes and stepped closer.

"Doctor Jones, I presume?" whispered a voice in her right ear, and her eyes quickly opened as she stared ahead. Not like she had any choice, as they were getting ready to bulge out of her head after hearing that voice again so close. She quickly took a hold of herself and turned around as she saw the familiar pinstriped suit, tousled hair, and wide grin of the Doctor. "Doctor!" she yelped as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck in a huge hug.

The Doctor laughed as he wrapped his arms around Martha's waist and spun her in a circle in the hallway. Martha's hands slipped into his hair, and when one of them ran over the bump on the back of his head he couldn't help but visibly wince as he set her down.

"Tsk…now what did you do to yourself now?" Martha asked in concern. "I leave you alone for…for…" Martha bit her lip as she thought about it for a minute, "Well, a month for me anyways and look at what happens!" She gestured at his head in frustration.

"Oi! Did I not tell you that I willingly afflicted pain upon my person in order to answer your call, Martha Jones?" The Doctor answered in mock offense as he ran his hand through his hair. "Besides…I've come for my appointment with my doctor," he finished with a cheeky grin.

Martha's eyes lit up as she suddenly remembered why they were standing in the hallway in the first place. "My scores! You mean…" she slapped her hands on each side of the message board and scrolled quickly down the list of names.

"Jones, Martha A, with a ninety-six percent," the Doctor confirmed with a smile as he leaned over her shoulder. "I'd say that's a passing grade, wouldn't you, Doctor Jones?"

"Yes I would, Doctor Smith!" she answered with a grin as she put her arm through his offered one.

"Good," he said he opened the doors and they walked through them together, "Because you owe me a story!"

* * *

"I still say you should've let me take you to Santrageny V for tea….they've got a blend there you just wouldn't believe!" The Doctor complained as Martha sat down in their booth at the coffeehouse and handed him his cup of tea.

"You can take me later, Doctor…" Martha began as she dropped a cube of sugar into her cup. When the Doctor became suspiciously quiet, she looked up to see him holding his cup to his mouth with his eyebrows raised high.

Suddenly realizing what she just said, Martha blushed embarrassingly and started stirring her tea vigorously as she stared at the tabletop. "You know what I meant…" she mumbled.

When she finally had the courage to glance up, she noticed that the Doctor was still holding his tea to his mouth, but instead of raised eyebrows he had a crooked grin and a faraway stare.

"Doctor?" she asked as she touched his other hand resting on the table. The Doctor quickly snapped out of his daze. "Right…where was I…the tea! They have this ritual where they collect the herbs under a double full moon with…"

"As lovely as that sounds," Martha interrupted gently, "The reason why we're having tea here is so that we won't get distracted by events like that."

"We could always have tea in the TARDIS, nice and simple…I've still got your cup with the daises on it even…"

Martha laughed softly as she glanced down at the table and noticed that the Doctor's hand was now resting on hers. _When did that happen? Does he know he's doing it? Doesn't matter!_ _Yes, it does!_

"Nothing is ever simple with you or the TARDIS, Doctor…" she said with a shake of her head.

"Ahh…but it's nice, eh?" He said pointedly with a wag of his spoon at her.

Martha smiled as she couldn't help but agree. "Yes, Doctor…as crazy as it got sometimes…as dangerous as it got…when I was traveling with you and the TARDIS it was very nice."

"Well, there you go!" He said as his spoon clinked into his cup and he leaned back in the booth with a satisfied look on his face. "So tell me, Doctor Jones, why _did _you become a Doctor? _Quid pro quo_, eh?"

"Well…"


	2. Martha's Reasons

"Well...Mum told me once about my first word when I was born. It wasn't 'Mama' or 'Papa' or anything like that...it was 'Why?' I guess my life's been like that ever since, really." Martha shrugged her shoulders as her fingers played with the rim of her teacup.

"I've never been happy with easy explanations; I always had to know why things happened and what made them work. I drove my parents crazy with my endless questions...with everything from 'Why is the sky blue?' to 'What kind of machine must Santa's sleigh be for him to get everywhere in one night?"

"Hmmn..." muttered the Doctor as he rested his chin in his hand and stared at the ceiling. "Other than a TARDIS, of course, he'd have to have something like a..."

Martha's eyebrows shot up at the thought of finally having a serious conversation about one of her childhood questions, but she quickly shook her head to break the distraction.

"It wasn't till I met my cousin Adeola that my questions started to turn inward. She had just recently broken her arm on the playground and had it in a cast, and I just couldn't get over it. There we were looking exactly alike, yet I was fine and she was broken. I had to figure out what happened to make her that way...and how I could fix it."

The Doctor could see the sadness in Martha's eyes as she spoke of her deceased cousin, and he swallowed hard. _I'm going to have to tell her about her cousin someday...but not yet; dear Rassilon, not yet_. Instead, he squeezed her hand gently in support and encouraged her to go on with the story.

"I was obsessed with how the human body worked after that. I studied all the anatomy books my Mum could give me, and by the time I was 15 I could tell people every single bone that made up the human hand." Martha rolled her eyes and laughed. "I think by the end of that year just about everyone knew I could, too. God...I must have been so annoying!"

"I don't know...some people like it when they're constantly asked questions...it keeps them on their toes," the Doctor replied with a grin as he took a sip of his tea and suddenly made a face. "Gah...tea's cold."

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver. As he fiddled over it looking for the setting for 'tea warmer,' Martha noticed that her cup was nearly empty, as well as cold. "I'm going to get another cup...I'll be right back."

The Doctor nodded distractedly and Martha got up to go to the counter, as well as gather her thoughts. _Calm down, Martha. You told him a month ago you needed time because you loved him and he just wasn't seeing you...and now here he is, letting you know in no uncertain terms that he needs you and loves your questions. Was he paying attention to you after all? You said it yourself that he was on the rebound...maybe he just needed time to sort things out (like I did)?_ With a deep breath and only slight shaking of her cup, Martha went back to their booth and sat down.

"Ahh..." said the Doctor as he sipped his now hot tea. "Much better...you have to keep those free radicals moving."

"So," he continued after he set his tea down, "how is your family, Martha?"

Martha bit her lip and glanced out the window. "It's weird, really. I had gotten so used to them always dumping their problems on me...but now, they're all acting like a family again. Tish is taking defense courses, she and Leo are getting along, and even Mom and Dad are talking again. They said they're going to try and work it out."

"That's good, right?" The Doctor asked with a raise of an eyebrow, unsure how he should take Martha's pensive look.

"Yeah, it is...it's just..." Martha gestured around her in the coffeehouse, "it's like with that year...when I look around now, I just don't feel like I belong anymore. When I left..."

The Doctor nodded solemnly and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand as he stared at the tabletop.

"I thought part of why I did it was because of my family. I figured they'd need me to release all their stress on, like they used to. That wasn't the case, though. They weren't the ones who needed me." Martha swallowed hard before she continued, "Were they, Doctor?"

_Tell her...tell her...tell her...she deserves to know..._

"No...they weren't," he answered quietly, still not looking up, but with his fingers now intertwined with hers on the table.

"Doctor?" Martha questioned softly, when the Doctor looked up into her eyes and she forgot how to breathe.

"I need _my_ Doctor, Martha. No one is there to constantly question me...no one is there to remind me why I care, no one is there to remind me what it's like to look at something for the first time, and no one is there to save me when I _burn_." With the last of his words the Doctor gently cupped Martha's cheek with his hand.

Martha closed her eyes, trying to record this memory in her mind for the future. She opened them again and smiled at the Doctor. "I guess I better get to work, then." She leaned forward over the table as the Doctor gently pulled her close, his eyes flickering to her lips as he leaned closer.

Martha's eyes fluttered closed and when she felt the soft brush of his lips against her bottom lip she couldn't help but gasp. _This was so different from the first time in the hospital...much more gentle...reverent, even._ As their lips parted, the Doctor rested his forehead against hers and asked with a sigh, "So does this mean you'll be coming home?"


	3. The Doctor's Confession

Martha's tongue flicked out to lick he lips, taking the time to savor the taste of the Doctor's kiss. She leaned back against the booth with a smile. "Home?"

"The only one that I have," the Doctor said with a crooked smile, "and she wants you back as much as I do."

Martha's eyebrows rose in doubt, but the smile on that remained on her face encouraged the Doctor to continue. "You wouldn't believe what she did to me when you left, Martha. She ran us right into the Titanic not 10 minutes after you were gone!"

Martha's jaw dropped in disbelief. "No way…why would she go and do a thing like that?"

The Doctor looked embarrassed as he gazed out the window and pulled on his ear with his long fingers. "Well…probably had something to do with me acting like a total prat."

"Excuse me?" Martha asked, unable to keep the laughter out of her voice as she tried to meet the Doctor's gaze.

The Doctor gazed at Martha and took her hands in his. "She did it because I acted like a total idiot when you left, Martha. I didn't tell you how I felt, and I let you walk away from us like a fool."

Martha's hands clenched in his as she asked him, "How _do_ you feel, Doctor?"

"Exposed, nervous, and wishing we were having this conversation back in the TARDIS, actually." The Doctor laughed ruefully as he held Martha's hands tight.

"Well, that all depends on how the rest of this conversation goes then, doesn't it?" Martha replied with a determined tone. As much as she loved him, there was a part of her that still resisted. _Why didn't he do this before?_

"Right," the Doctor answered before he cleared his throat and continued. "I was scared, Martha. For hundreds of years I've traveled time and space, keeping a safe distance between the people and me whose lives I affected. When I met Rose," Martha's hands flinched reflexively and the Doctor squeezed her hands gently to reassure her. "I was broken. I had recently been deemed to survive the Time War as all of my people died around me; my soul felt like someone had taken a blunt scoop to it and taken part of me away." Tears welled up in his eyes as the Doctor gazed at the ceiling in an attempt to keep them from falling.

"When I traveled with Rose, she made it so easy to lie to myself. I could lie and pretend that nothing had changed…my people were still there behind the curtain, and I could travel the Universe without a care in the world. After she…left…it was like the façade was ripped away, my pain out in the open for the Universe to see. I stayed away from the Earth for a while…too scared to expose myself to that kind of pain again. My curiosity got the best of me though that day when we met in the hospital." The Doctor sniffed and gazed at Martha with a sad smile.

"Before I knew it, you had amazed me, Martha Jones. Your intelligence, your compassion, your bravery and your never-ending questions drew me out of my carefully crafted shell…and it hurt. It scared me when I couldn't lie to myself anymore and had to face my pain; _all_ of it…and move on." The Doctor looked down at the table and a lone tear ran down his cheek. "I can't do this by myself, Martha…I never could. I don't want anybody else this time though. I need my Doctor, Martha…I need you."

Martha cupped his cheek in her hand, her thumb gently wiping away his tears as he closed his eyes and leaned into her hand. "Doctor," she said softly as she leaned in, her lips a hair's breath away from him, "let's go home." She reached forward a little bit farther and brushed her lips against his gently.

The Doctor's eyes opened and he fell back into the booth, almost as if in shock. He then let out a relieved laugh and grinned from ear to ear. He then gulped down his tea, stood up from the booth and held his hand out to Martha. "No time like the present, Doctor Jones!"


	4. Coming Home

They walked back to the medical building and the familiar blue police box sitting comfortably under a shady tree in the courtyard. Martha walked up to the TARDIS first and did her best to wrap her arms around it as the Doctor grinned at the joy he could feel coming from his ship, his hands in his pockets as he strolled up behind her.

"She made something for you, you know…" the Doctor revealed nonchalantly as he turned his key in the lock and pushed the TARDIS door open with his hand. "After you, Doctor."

"I don't know if I will ever get used to that…"Martha muttered with a laugh and a shake of her head as she stepped into the TARDIS again.

"The name grows on you…trust me." The Doctor said with a wink and a grin as he turned and walked down one of the many hallways connected to the main console room. "Now come on! She's been wanting to show this to you for a while now." The Doctor was practically bouncing with his hands in his pockets as he stood by a metallic sliding door.

Martha looked at him questioningly, and the Doctor nodded towards the door. "Go on…I'll never hear the end of it if I spoil her surprise."

Martha touched the door and it slid away to reveal what looked like a med bay, with gleaming metal diagnostic machines surrounding 4 different beds. Martha recognized some of the equipment as top of the line from her time, while others were decidedly more alien in nature. Thankfully it looked like all the manuals on the shelf were in English, though. After their first encounter with the Plasmavore and their time battling the living sun, Martha knew the value of a well-written instruction manual. "This is amazing," she said as she spread her eyes and spun around.

"We both figured that a doctor needs a place to practice her art, does she not? And lest I forget…" the Doctor reached a hand deep into his inside suit pocket. "I've got a present for you to go with your new med bay…ahh!" The Doctor suddenly pulled a thick and slightly dusty book from his coat. He blew the dust off it away from Martha and turned around to hand it to her. "There we go…The Complete Guide to Gallifreyan Anatomy."

Martha took it with awe and flipped it open to look at the pages. While at first they were indecipherable, the words shifted into English before eyes. She looked up at the Doctor, the knowledge of what kind of trust the Doctor was placing in her apparent in her gaze.

"Thank you, Doctor. I'll start studying this right away."

"I'm sure you will, Doctor Jones." The Doctor said with a smile as he took the book from her hands and set it on one of the beds. "For now though," he placed his hands on each side of Martha, resting them on the bed behind her, "welcome home, Martha." He leaned in and kissed her again, this time with more passion than gentle reverence.

The Doctor suddenly grabbed her hips and lifted her to sit on the diagnostic bed. This brought Martha's face level to his, and Martha wrapped her legs around his waist to bring his body closer to hers. He ran his fingers through her hair and cupped her head gently, angling it so that he could match his lips to hers fully. He took his leisure tasting Martha this time, running his tongue along her bottom lip and memorizing her flavor of cinnamon, chocolate and tea.

Martha moaned into his mouth and ran her fingers through his hair at the back of his neck as she returned his kiss, sucking gently on his bottom lip. She rubbed her foot against the back of his thigh and he growled, his desire apparent to Martha as she held him between her legs.

The Doctor pulled away from Martha with a sigh and kissed her on the forehead, sliding his cheek alongside hers as he reassured her gently, "Not that I wouldn't be willing to begin your Gallifreyan anatomy lessons soon, Doctor Jones…but I didn't want you to think that this was the only reason I wanted you back."

Martha smiled at the Doctor as she replied, "I'm just glad that it even became a reason at all, Doctor. I fully expect those anatomy lessons at a later date, however," she finished with a finger to his chest. The Doctor stepped back and she hopped off the bed to stand next to him.

"So…where can I take you now, Martha Jones?" he asked with a cheeky grin on his face as he offered Martha his arm.

Martha wrapped her arm through his as she strove to keep a straight face. "The med bay seemed like a good place at the time…"

The Doctor laughed and nudged her shoulder with his as they walked down the hallway.

"Seriously, though…I need to let my family know what I'm doing before we go. Mum's feelings about you changed a lot over that year…you might even try coming in with me this time." She looked at the Doctor who was subconsciously rubbing his cheek at the thought of meeting Martha's mother again. "I can honestly say that I don't think she's going to slap you."

"They always seem to find a reason…" the Doctor muttered to himself. "How about I park the TARDIS and we wait in your backyard. I'll give you 10 minutes, and if she doesn't come running out to beat me silly, I'll come in." the Doctor hopped up to the TARDIS console and began flipping the necessary switches to bring them to Martha's parents house.

"I guess that will have to do," Martha said with a grin and she stepped up next to him and sat in one of the chairs around the console. "Oh, we can't forget!" The Doctor raised his brow at her as he looked up from his steering of the TARDIS. "I've got to go back to the medical building to pick up my certificate a week from today. I figure it should look quite nice hanging next to yours, eh?"

"Um….yeah…" the Doctor muttered as the TARDIS materialized. He grabbed his coat off of one of the cross-pillars and walked towards the doors. "About that…"

Martha stared at him incredulously. "Doctor…are you telling me that you don't have a certificate?"

"Eaten by a Zygon?" The Doctor suggested as he leaned into one of the TARDIS doors and opened it for Martha.

"I always knew you were certified, Doctor…" Martha teased with a cheeky grin as she grabbed her jacket and walked past him through the door. "I just figured it was in the _good_ way."

"Oi!" the Doctor's reply could be heard before the TARDIS door closed behind them…"You turn one weapons factory into a banana grove…"


End file.
